Letter: Jones and Obama

By Hal James, New Bern

Published: Monday, April 29, 2013 at 12:40 PM.

I received a request from Rep. Walter Jones asking me to sign a pledge of support for a bill he is sponsoring, H. Con. Resolution 107, that would state that it is an impeachable offense for any president to ignore the U.S. Constitution. He also asked that I send a check to “Walter Jones for Congress.” Good conscience prevents my doing either.

If it is true that any president who ignores the Constitution should be impeached, and it is, then why is Representative Jones not filing impeachment proceedings?

President Obama behaves as if the president has the power to legislate (by issuing Executive Orders that affect the whole country, not just give direction to the Executive Branch of government), uses our military without Congress’ consent in situations in which no imminent threat exists, chooses which laws the Department of In-Justice will enforce and which ones they will not, and in general behaves as if the Constitution of the United States does not exist, thereby ignoring his oath of office. Is the idle threat of impeachment charges being brought at some vague time in the future a right and proper remedy for these high crimes? On the contrary, it is pitifully inadequate.

In the same letter, Representative Jones mentions penalizing law abiding gun owners, and speaks of “...numerous laws on the books regulating gun purchases and use” (infringements of the right to keep and bear arms) “that we must strictly enforce.” This prompts the question, “Why must we enforce unconstitutional laws?”

Representative Jones also mentions our outrageous national debt and the fact that there is currently discussion about the possibility of creating money out of thin air. Is he unaware that the Federal Reserve has been doing that for years?

Representative Jones says that Big Government sits on both sides of the aisle. Unfortunately, he is correct, and I am sick to death of it.

I received a request from Rep. Walter Jones asking me to sign a pledge of support for a bill he is sponsoring, H. Con. Resolution 107, that would state that it is an impeachable offense for any president to ignore the U.S. Constitution. He also asked that I send a check to “Walter Jones for Congress.” Good conscience prevents my doing either.

If it is true that any president who ignores the Constitution should be impeached, and it is, then why is Representative Jones not filing impeachment proceedings?

President Obama behaves as if the president has the power to legislate (by issuing Executive Orders that affect the whole country, not just give direction to the Executive Branch of government), uses our military without Congress’ consent in situations in which no imminent threat exists, chooses which laws the Department of In-Justice will enforce and which ones they will not, and in general behaves as if the Constitution of the United States does not exist, thereby ignoring his oath of office. Is the idle threat of impeachment charges being brought at some vague time in the future a right and proper remedy for these high crimes? On the contrary, it is pitifully inadequate.

In the same letter, Representative Jones mentions penalizing law abiding gun owners, and speaks of “...numerous laws on the books regulating gun purchases and use” (infringements of the right to keep and bear arms) “that we must strictly enforce.” This prompts the question, “Why must we enforce unconstitutional laws?”

Representative Jones also mentions our outrageous national debt and the fact that there is currently discussion about the possibility of creating money out of thin air. Is he unaware that the Federal Reserve has been doing that for years?

Representative Jones says that Big Government sits on both sides of the aisle. Unfortunately, he is correct, and I am sick to death of it.

Our founders envisioned a well informed and moral citizenry who found people among themselves who exhibited leadership qualities in civilian life that we would then draft to represent us for a time (at sacrifice to themselves, not while feathering their nests), and then would come home and live with what they had wrought. What a good idea. I’m highly in favor. While Representative Jones has made some good votes over the years, he has held public office far too long. I appreciate his efforts, but I’d like to see him come home and relearn what the real world is like, and I’d like to be represented in Congress by someone who is well acquainted with real life.